TIMELINE-Kenosha, Wisconsin in auto history

Oct 11 Kenosha, Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Michigan has a
long history in automotive history that will die if a Chrysler engine plant is
shut as planned next year.
For details, double click: ID:nN08373824

Kenosha claims major innovations in auto history including the steering
wheel, the seat belt, and the muscle car.

It was in Kenosha in 1902 that Thomas Jeffrey made a mass-assembly
automobile, the Rambler, a year ahead of Henry Ford.

Kenosha was also instrumental in the history of worker rights. Auto workers
in Kenosha unionized in 1933, two years before the United Auto Workers was
formed.

Kenosha's economy was once dominated by making cars. There were two major
assembly plants, one on the lake that was shut two decades ago, and one a mile
inland that operates today in a muted manner from the days when workers made
Nash, American Motors, Renault and finally Chrysler cars there.

Kenosha, which has about 100,000 residents, is officially in the Chicago
metropolitan area and claims to be the northernmost suburb of Chicago even
though it is closer to Milwaukee (about 30 miles) than Chicago (about 55
miles).

Here is a list of some of the major developments in automobile history in
Kenosha:

1900 - A bicycle maker from Chicago, Thomas Jeffrey, buys a factory from the
Sterling Bicycle Company. He sees little future in making bicycles and decides
to act on his automobile design experiments.

1902 - Jeffrey produces the Rambler, the second mass-assembly auto made, a
year after Oldsmobile and a year ahead of Ford. Sales in 1902 were 1,500
vehicles, a sixth of the automobiles sold in the United States.

1910 - Jeffrey dies, and his son Charles takes over as head of the company.

1915 - There are more than 450 automakers in the United States, and
Kenosha's Thomas B. Jeffrey Company is easily in the top 10. Sales peaked in
1914 at 13,513 vehicles.

1916 - The head of General Motors, Charles Nash, buys the company for $5
million and renames it Nash Motors.

1933 - Emboldened by federal law allowing works the right to organize, Nash
Motors workers formed an American Federation of Labor affiliate. Nash said he'd
throw the keys to the lakeside plant in Lake Michigan before he would bargain
with a union. He eventually changed his mind, under pressure of federal
officials.

1935 - Nash workers join the United Auto Workers union, which forms in
Detroit in May.

1937 - Nash Motors mergers with appliance producer Kelvinator.

1942 to 1945 - Nash Motors makes aircraft engines in Kenosha for the U.S.
military in World War II.

1954 to 1962 - AMC is headed by George Romney, later Michigan governor and
failed 1968 Republican presidential candidate. Romney's focus on small,
efficient cars, led by the reintroduction of the Rambler, brought limited
success. In 1957, AMC's market share was only 2 percent.

1963 - The AMC Rambler is named "Car of the Year" by Motor Trend magazine.

1960s - AMC is at its height in terms of production, making about a half a
million cars a year, and employing 16,000 or more workers. But market share
never reached the company goal of 3.7 percent of the U.S. market.

1969 - AMC buys Jeep Corp from Kaiser Motors.

1970 - AMC introduces the Gremlin, billed as the first U.S.-made
subcompact.

1970s - AMC models include Ambassador, Matador, Javelin, AMX, Hornet and
Gremlin. Profits reach $44.5 million in 1973, the best since 1960. But a costly
three-week strike in 1974 helped push AMC lost revenue in 1975, a year when the
U.S. auto industry as a whole experienced record profits.

1979 - French automaker Renault bails out the sagging AMC and takes over
much of the management of AMC.

1983 - The Renault Alliance made at the two Kenosha auto assembly plants
wins the "Car of the Year" award. But a couple of years, the model is panned by
consumers and critics as among the worst performing vehicles around.

1987 - Chrysler, led by CEO Lee Iacocca, buys AMC, this time bailing out
Renault.

1987 - Iacocca and Chrysler announce the shutdown of auto assembly in
Kenosha.

December 1988 - Automobile assembly in Kenosha ends after almost 90 years.
The lakeside plant shuts entirely. Engine assembly keeps a plant a mile inland
in operation. It becomes known as the Kenosha Engine Plant.

1989 to 2009 - The Kenosha Engine Plant continues to make engines for
Chrysler, but activity dwindles.

2009 - Chrysler goes into bankruptcy protection, and announces plant
closings that include Kenosha. Italy's Fiat SpA FIA.MI, takes over management
control of Chrysler as it emerges as a new company -- Chrysler Group LLC. The
Kenosha plant remains owned by the former Chrysler, known as "OldCarco."

2009 - Kenosha city officials, Wisconsin state officials and union leaders
piece together a task force to keep manufacturing in town. The effort, led by
Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman, seeks to raise up to $30 million in federal and
state funds to clean up the Kenosha plant to remove environmental liability for
a new owner. The city wants OldCarco to give it the plant. Then it would likely
lease the plant for $1 a year, and offer tax incentives.

Sources: Interviews and "Kenosha - A History of Our Town" by Don Jensen.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall, editing by Martin Golan)

NEW YORK, Dec 9 U.S. Treasury debt yields
touched session lows early Friday in step with German yields in
the wake of a Reuters report on the European Central Bank has
rejected request from Italy's Monte Paschi for more time to
raise cash.

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